diff --git a/format.go b/format.go
index 862789a..13bfdc8 100644
--- a/format.go
+++ b/format.go
@@ -189,10 +189,14 @@ const (
 )
 
 func anyResolver(source DescriptorSource) (jsonpb.AnyResolver, error) {
-	files, err := GetAllFiles(source)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
+	// TODO: instead of pro-actively downloading file descriptors to
+	// build a dynamic resolver, it would be better if the resolver
+	// impl was lazy, and simply downloaded the descriptors as needed
+	// when asked to resolve a particular type URL
+
+	// best effort: build resolver with whatever files we can
+	// load, ignoring any errors
+	files, _ := GetAllFiles(source)
 
 	var er dynamic.ExtensionRegistry
 	for _, fd := range files {
diff --git a/format_test.go b/format_test.go
index e1d4ca9..30be9e2 100644
--- a/format_test.go
+++ b/format_test.go
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ import (
 	"google.golang.org/grpc/metadata"
 )
 
-func TestRequestFactory(t *testing.T) {
+func TestRequestParser(t *testing.T) {
 	source, err := DescriptorSourceFromProtoSets("testing/example.protoset")
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("failed to create descriptor source: %v", err)
diff --git a/grpcurl.go b/grpcurl.go
index 990761d..d21bd4c 100644
--- a/grpcurl.go
+++ b/grpcurl.go
@@ -55,37 +55,40 @@ func GetAllFiles(source DescriptorSource) ([]*desc.FileDescriptor, error) {
 	var files []*desc.FileDescriptor
 	srcFiles, ok := source.(sourceWithFiles)
 
+	// If an error occurs, we still try to load as many files as we can, so that
+	// caller can decide whether to ignore error or not.
+	var firstError error
 	if ok {
-		var err error
-		files, err = srcFiles.GetAllFiles()
-		if err != nil {
-			return nil, err
-		}
+		files, firstError = srcFiles.GetAllFiles()
 	} else {
 		// Source does not implement GetAllFiles method, so use ListServices
 		// and grab files from there.
-		allFiles := map[string]*desc.FileDescriptor{}
 		svcNames, err := source.ListServices()
 		if err != nil {
-			return nil, err
-		}
-		for _, name := range svcNames {
-			d, err := source.FindSymbol(name)
-			if err != nil {
-				return nil, err
+			firstError = err
+		} else {
+			allFiles := map[string]*desc.FileDescriptor{}
+			for _, name := range svcNames {
+				d, err := source.FindSymbol(name)
+				if err != nil {
+					if firstError == nil {
+						firstError = err
+					}
+				} else {
+					addAllFilesToSet(d.GetFile(), allFiles)
+				}
+			}
+			files = make([]*desc.FileDescriptor, len(allFiles))
+			i := 0
+			for _, fd := range allFiles {
+				files[i] = fd
+				i++
 			}
-			addAllFilesToSet(d.GetFile(), allFiles)
-		}
-		files = make([]*desc.FileDescriptor, len(allFiles))
-		i := 0
-		for _, fd := range allFiles {
-			files[i] = fd
-			i++
 		}
 	}
 
 	sort.Sort(filesByName(files))
-	return files, nil
+	return files, firstError
 }
 
 type filesByName []*desc.FileDescriptor